Rotatable door supporting and lifting jig



Oct. 11, 1960 R. o. STONE ROTATABLE DOOR SUPPORTING AND LIFT'ING JIG Filed July 10, 1957 m m E M ROLLO O. STONE flu s. W

ATTORNEY Unite. States Patent (4440 Cynthia, Bellair'e, Tex.) i iled July 10, 1951, Ser. No; 670,920

Claims. Cl.- 144-288 The present invention is directed to adoor jig. More particularly, the invention is Concerned with a device for the handlingof doors during'the installation and hanging thereof.

Heretofore, the installation and hanging of doors has been primarily a manual operation. The door hanger is first faced with removing a door from an upright'sta'ck which is the usual method of storage in the building trades. The selected door must then be manually car ried, generally by one man, to a bench where the varied operations of sizing the door, butt routing and mortising for the hinges, locks and handles are accomplished, all with attendant manual manipulationof the door. The finished door must then be finally'fitted into the opening again with'manual lifting. It can easily be seen that as the size and weight of the door increases the physical exertion likewise increases. A point is reached where certain doors become a two-man operation or the number of doors hung during a work period are materially lessened.

Basically, the present invention comprises a portable jig which is adapted to be used, to unstack"doors, to tran'sportthe door'to the site of use, to 'manipul'ate the' door during sizing, routing, mortising and drilling op erations and to elevate the door into the door opening for initial and final sizing and actual hanging; These functions are performed by the provision ofia'n elongated, rotatable clamp having transverse supports at a prescribed height above a wheeled carrier.

An object ofthis invention is to provide a novel door hangers jig. i 3

*A: further object of this invention is to provide a mechanism for hanging and installing doors.

A still further object of this invention is to' provide a; combined door bench and door lifter.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a means on a door bench allowing easy access to; anysurface or edge of the door. v j r Another object of this invention is to provide a device for handling, transporting and working on doors, particu- And Fig. 4 is a modification of the transverse support elevating means.

In Fig. 1 an elongated clamp, generally denoted as 1, is supported by a wheeled vehicle generally designated as 2. The wheeled vehicle 2 comprises an elongated first structural member 3, preferably of channel shape cross section, cross pieces 4 and 6 forming an H-shaped frame and spaced upstanding structural members 8 and Patented Oct. I1, 1960 2 I I 9 of a height greater than one-half a door Width attached to the frame. One of the cross pieces 4 has an axle 54 welded on the underside thereof on which are fitted wheels 5. The other of the cross pieces 6 has ground contacting pads 7 depending therefrom to prevent undesired movement of the wheeled vehicle. 7

The elongated clamp 1 comprises an elongated member or rod 10 which may be in two or more parts joined by a union 11. Such union and an associated nipple (not shown) may be used to extend the overall length of the clamp. The clamp 1 further includes a first door clamping foot 12 screwed onto rod 10 at 14 and a sec ond clamping portion 16 loosely journalled on rod 10. This portion 16 is connected to a clamping screw 17 which is rotatably journalled and threaded in an end piece 15 on the end of the member 10. These portions: 12 and 16 are spaced apart a distance greater than a door height. Screw 17 has a handle portion 18' connect ed on the outer end thereof for effecting the clamping action as well as to elevate the overall jig as hereinafter described. Each of the clamping portions 12 and '16 have inner serrated or knurled surfaces 13 thereon to aid in gripping the top andbottom edges of a' clamped door. The rod portions of the elongated clamp 1 are rotatably journalled in apertures extending through upper portions of upstanding members 8 and 9. Rotation of the clamp andthe clamped door enables the door to be. moved into various positions. The rotation means comprises a semi-circular disc 19, having a curved substantially semi-circular slot 20 inward of the curved outer periphery thereof, attached as'by welding to the rod 19. A bolt 21 extends through the slot 20 and. an aperture in member 8 and has a wing nut 22 associated therewith to frictionally clamp the disc in' any one of multiple positions with respect to the member 8. The clamp i by the arrangement shown may be moved substantially degrees in each direction from the horizontal.

An auxiliary rotational locking means may be used in addition to that described above or maybe used in lieu thereof. This means, seen in detail in Fig. 2, compris'es a series of transverse bores 25 in rod 10 positioned opposite apertures in channel member 8 through which a locking key 24 may be placed. A similar key 52 is shownin place through'rod 1 0 and member 9 in Fig. I. A door supporting means basically comprising a pai'r of supports each including a' first transversemember' 31 secured as by welding at 36- to the rod 10' and an elevata ble'second transverse member 30' are placed intermediate the ends of the elongated clamp. These transverse mem bers are pivotally connected by a pivoted handle means 32. and a pivot link 34 to provide for substantially para! lel elevating movement of member'3'0 with respect to member 31. The handle means 32 when pulled down wardly and toward the operator acts to elevate meme ber- 30 above member 31. The amount of elevation is dependent on the height of clamping foot 1 2 and clamping portion 16 above the transverse supports since the elevating means is "used whenit isndesired to slide a horizontally held door over these clamping portions, after they have been loosened, so as to enable the artisan to plane or otherwise work on the bottom and top edges of the door and not be obstructed by the clamp. The handle means 32 is preferably angular so as to prevent it from seating in the down position in the space between the vertical portions of members 30 and 31. A bolt 35 seen in Fig. 3 is provided upstanding from the underside of the horizontal portion of member 31 preventing pivot link 34 from taking a down position absolutely parallel to the members 30 and 3 1 in order to allow pivoting action to start. Otherwise, pulling on handie 32 would merely pull against the pivot pins and there would be no pivoting action. Bolt 35 extends sufficiently above the uppermost surface of member 31 as illustrated in Fig. 3 so as to abut the underside of the horizontal portion of member 30 preventing the underside of the horizontal portion of member 30 adjacent the bolt 35 from abutting the uppermost vertical surface of member 31 adjacent bolt 35. In the down portion therefore member 30 has a slight angularity from member 31. A stop 33 welded or otherwise attached to member 30 prevents further movement of the member 30 after'it has slightly gone past its Zenith by abutting against the rod 10. The bolt 35 may be replaced by the construction shown in Fig. 4. In such modification the upper pivots 37 and 39 and lower pivots 38 and 40 are both above and below the member center lines 41 and 42, respectively, so as to insure that the pivot links do not assume parallelism with the members 30 and 31 in the down position.

The overall device is normally completed by providing additional support means 50 bolted from members 8 and 9 to member 3. Members 8 and 9 are normally held on member 3 by straps 51 welded on the bottom of these upstanding members and bolted or screwed into member 3. Various exposed surfaces of the door jig, including the top of members 30, are carpeted as at 55 in order to protect the finish surfaces of the doors being processed.

The operation of the device is as follows:

The jig is clamped easily to a door that is vertically stacked or leaning against a wall by raising the end of the jig, as indicated by arrow 60, with the clamp screw handle 18 and placing the clamping foot 12 under the center of the door and clamping portion 16 on the center top edge of the door. When the jig is securely clamped in position the operator can then pull the device and clamped door toward himself and down. This action cantalevers the door upon the bench, ready for the first operation in jig fitting. After the door is sized for the particular door opening with a door template the door is then swung to perpendicular positions, as indicated by arrows 61 and 62, for work on either edge by loosening friction clamp 21, 22 on the slotted 180 degree quadrant 19. In this position the operator has the door ready to receive a butt template for butt routing. The butts can then be applied to door. Then, by swinging the door 180 degrees the other edge is in position for lock set mortising, etc.

Although the invention as been described and illustrated in detail, it is to be clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, the spirit and scope of this invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A door jig comprising an elongated bottom frame, spaced ground support means extending below said frame, spaced structural members of a height greater' than one-half a maximum width door and upstanding from said frame, and an elongated clamp extending between said members, said clamp having first and second door clamping portions spaced apart a distance greater than a predetermined maximum height door, said first clamping portion including a cantilevered clamping foot extending upwardly and laterally outwardly from one of said structural members, said foot being adapted to slide under a substantially verticaljstanding door and to clamp the bottom and top edges of a door in cooperation with said second door clamping portion.

2. The invention as set out in claim 1 further comprising elevatable door supports below the plane of said clamping portions extending transversely of said elongated clamp between said members, said door supports extending in an elevated position in a plane above the plane of said clamping portions.

3. The invention as set out in claim 2 in which said door supports comprise a first transverse member secured to said clamp, a second movable transverse member, pivot links connecting said second transverse member to said first transverse member, means to prevent parallel alignment of said links and said first transverse member and handle means to elevate said second transverse member above said first transverse member.

4. In combination with a door hanging jig having elongated door clamping portions and a supporting frame structure, an elevatable transverse door support comprising a first member attached to said clamping portions, a second member above said first member and pivotally attached by link members to said first member at each end thereof to provide substantially parallel movement of said second member, handle means attached to one of said link members for elevating said second member and stop means on said second member extending below said first member to prevent movement of said second member past its maximum elevated position.

5. In combination, an elongated door clamp, a wheeled vehicle supporting said clamp and extending substantially coextensively therewith, said clamp having first and second door clamping portions spaced apart a distance greater than a predetermined maximum height door, said first clamping portion having a clamping foot extending upwardly and laterally from one end of said vehicle, said foot being adapted to slide under a substantially vertical standing 'door and to clamp the bottom and top edges of a door in cooperation with said second door clamping portion, and elevatable door supporting members transversely attached to said clamp intermediate the ends thereof and movable above and below said clamping portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 160,324 Hogue Mar. 2, 1875 220,694 Barrow Oct. 21, 1879 443,317 Downing Dec. 23, 1890 684,097 Quigley Oct. 8, 1901 1,334,732 Bergstrom Mar. 23, 1920 1,415,895 Obermiller May 16, 1922 1,810,995 Woelk June 23, 1931 1,833,355 Dahms Nov. 24, 1931 2,174,670 Sauerland Oct. 3, 1939 2,427,133 Grabner Sept. 9, 1947 2,557,231 Miller June 19, 1951 2,662,565 Le Vay Dec. 15, 1953 2,717,706 Yow et al. Sept. 13, 1955 

